Chapter Summaries

Himeko’s coffee put Lumine and several others to sleep, while Himeko and Theresa forced Old Yang to try it. Himeko secretly changed Old Yang’s coffee into liquid chocolate, and the group settled down as Kukulkan wondered how the Astral Express could be so terrifying.

• Lumine drank Himeko’s coffee and promptly fell asleep, so Himeko carried her to the sofa.
• Himeko tried to pass her coffee to Theresa, but Theresa and Himeko cornered Old Yang when he attempted to escape through a spatial rift.
• Theresa’s chains and Himeko’s Black Hands captured Old Yang, who agreed to drink if Himeko had to drink alongside him.
• Himeko used the Authority of Corruption to turn her and Old Yang’s coffee into liquid chocolate, and Old Yang pretended to enjoy it.
• Theresa let Old Yang and Himeko avoid another cup while she and Himeko drank their coffee, and Kukulkan complained to Himeko about life aboard the Astral Express.

After recovering from Himeko’s coffee, Lumine and the others shared a meal aboard the Astral Express before arriving near Sumeru City the next day. Theresa led Kukulkan and Xolotl toward familiar faces, while Stellaron Essence contacted March 7th and Changye Yue, who were studying alchemy at the Akademiya.

• Lumine woke after the coffee and noticed that her resistance to abnormal conditions seemed stronger.
• Pam served the passengers cosmic jellyfish, oversized Rock-Dwelling Crab and lobster, and his signature Pom Pom Pie.
• The Astral Express arrived near Sumeru City the next day, and Himeko and Old Yang stayed aboard with Pam.
• Xolotl sensed the Dendro Dragon King, but Theresa led the group toward familiar faces before they headed into the desert.
• Stellaron Essence contacted March 7th and Changye Yue, who said they were studying alchemy in Spantamad at the Akademiya.

The Stellaron Hunters reunited with March 7th in Sumeru, where she was brewing a potion to make herself smarter. After Theresa supplied the last ingredient, March decided that a strand of Theresa’s hair would complete the recipe, leaving her poised to make the potion.

• Himeko learned that March 7th and Changye Yue were behind the Akademiya, and the group headed there with Nahida guiding them.
• Nahida told the group that people had recently gone missing in Sumeru, then led Lumine and Paimon away for a private conversation.
• March 7th explained that she was developing a potion to become smarter and needed a Rukkhashava Mushroom to finish it.
• Theresa used a portal to fetch a Rukkhashava Mushroom and gave it to March 7th.
• March 7th decided to ask Theresa for a strand of hair as the potion’s final ingredient and walked toward her.

March 7th made a potion meant to increase intelligence with Theresa’s cat-tail hair as an ingredient, and Lumine volunteered to test it. After Lumine felt warmth and mental clarity but no visible changes, Kaveh asked to try the potion while Alhaitham warned him against it.

• March 7th asked Theresa for a hair to use as a catalyst, and Theresa gave her a glowing hair from her tail.
• March 7th brewed three pinkish-white potions and announced that they were supposed to make drinkers smarter.
• Lumine volunteered to test the potion after March 7th revealed that it contained Theresa’s hair, while a Dottore-like scholar watched from the crowd.
• Lumine drank a bottle and felt warmth and mental clarity without noticing any other changes.
• Kaveh asked March 7th to let him try the potion, and Alhaitham advised him against it.

Kaveh drank March 7th’s experimental potion, gained sudden insights, and transformed into a catgirl. He fled home with Alhaitham while Dottore’s segment stole the remaining potion and left Sumeru City.

• Kaveh ignored Alhaitham’s warning and drank March 7th’s experimental potion, which briefly made him feel smarter.
• Kaveh transformed into a short, blond catgirl with cat ears, and he panicked as Alhaitham tried to comfort him.
• Dottore’s segment secretly replaced March 7th’s potion with his sleeping potion and took the original, while Theresa secretly marked it with the power of Elation.
• March 7th gave the remaining potion to Stellaron Essence, who planned to use it on Cyrene, and Kaveh fled home under Alhaitham’s cover.
• Dottore’s segment left Sumeru City for a secret base with the stolen potion.

A kind-hearted Dottore segment investigated a strange potion in his Sumeru laboratory, unaware that Theresa had secretly altered it. After drinking the spiked water, he woke transformed into a catgirl and feared what the other segments would do.

• The young adult Dottore returned to the secret base, where the teenage and middle-aged segments mocked him and threatened to dissect him.
• The young adult Dottore analyzed the potion and found strange cat-eared cells among its ingredients.
• Theresa used the Power of Joy to guide the potion into the water by Dottore's bedside.
• Dottore drank the altered water, fell asleep, and dreamed of being assimilated by dancing cats.
• Dottore woke as a white-haired catgirl and feared the other segments would cut him apart.

Dottore discovered that a magical potion had transformed him into a catgirl and resolved to escape the segments by becoming Domirei, someone who would bring others joy. Aha and Mao Die granted her powers and a witch class change, and a brilliant pillar of light erupted from her underground laboratory.

• Dottore reviewed the laboratory footage and saw the potion form a cat head, enter his drinking glass, and cause his transformation into a white-haired catgirl.
• Dottore concluded that he needed the Descenders to reverse the potion and began planning how to escape the segments without revealing his appearance.
• Mao Die appeared in Dottore’s mind and asked what he truly wanted, prompting him to reject the name Dottore and choose Domirei.
• Domirei resolved to bring people joy and stop the segments from hurting anyone, awakening the Power of Joy and attracting Aha and Theresa’s attention.
• Aha and Mao Die granted Domirei powers, while Theresa’s influence transformed her outfit and unlocked the witch class change.
• Domirei pulled her mask over her face, releasing a dazzling pillar of light through the laboratory and into the sky over Sumeru.

Domirei fought the Dottore segments with bizarre powers and powders that transformed several of them into humiliating, deranged figures. When Cyno, March 7th, and the others arrived, they found the laboratory in chaos and were horrified by the spectacle.

• The Dottore segments discovered Domirei hovering in the ruined laboratory and attacked her with a firearm and a giant robot.
• Domirei used Phantom Hissing Technique to evade the attack and covered the teenage segment with Ultimate Itch Powder, which made him bald and transformed him into Wu Ke.
• Wu Ke chased the other segments with a blinding flash from his scalp while Domirei injected the middle-aged segment, turning him into a Muscle Aniki.
• The Muscle Aniki grabbed another segment and trapped a fleeing segment with his Thunderous Butt Slam.
• Cyno, March 7th, Collei, and the others arrived and stared in shock at the chaotic scene.

Aniki Dottore’s bizarre advances horrified Cyno and the gathered men until Domirei, a catgirl who had escaped the underground laboratory, drove him off. After he reappeared and nearly kissed Cyno, Domirei struck him into the sky, leaving Cyno in shock.

• Aniki Dottore ogled Cyno and the other men, prompting Cyno to demand that he leave Sumeru while the fighters hesitated to engage him.
• Aniki Dottore’s antics repulsed March 7th and Paimon, and his gaze drove Old Yang to flee.
• Domirei descended to confront Aniki Dottore and said she had escaped an underground laboratory and become a Pathstrider.
• Aniki Dottore burrowed away, and Cyno ordered the remaining Dottore segments taken for questioning.
• Aniki Dottore returned, grabbed Cyno, and nearly kissed him before Domirei struck him into the sky.
• Cyno crouched and screamed in shock, while Stellaron Essence remarked that Aniki Dottore caused severe mental damage.

After the Dottore segments were captured and brought back to Sumeru City, Kaveh fretted over being trapped in a catgirl’s body while Alhaitham struggled to hide his attraction to him. The chapter ended with both of them blushing and unsure how to handle their changed relationship.

• The Corps of Thirty tied up the Dottore segments after the white-haired catgirl sent their dangerous creation flying.
• Theresa and the others returned to Sumeru City, where scholars took the segments’ research results for the Akademiya to review.
• Kaveh asked Alhaitham to find a way to change him back and worried that his thoughts and feelings were changing along with his body.
• Alhaitham considered forcing a surgical correction or asking the Stellaron Hunters for help, but he privately found Kaveh’s catgirl form appealing.
• Kaveh confronted Alhaitham when he stayed silent, and both blushed before turning away from each other.

Alhaitham suggested seeking the Stellaron Hunters for a way to change Kaveh back, while Kaveh finished his plans and dressed as a catgirl for an evening out. After strangers mocked Kaveh in Sumeru City, Alhaitham reassured him, and they shared a lavish meal, though Kaveh’s transformation remained unresolved.

• Alhaitham proposed that he and Kaveh seek the Stellaron Hunters, while Kaveh decided to finish his architectural plans first.
• Alhaitham searched the library for transformation remedies, then returned home and invited Kaveh out to eat.
• Kaveh dressed in a white outfit with bows, and he headbutted Alhaitham after Alhaitham teased him about his appearance.
• People in Sumeru City mocked Kaveh and called him a pervert, leaving him ashamed and close to tears.
• Alhaitham took Kaveh’s hand, reassured him, and accompanied him to a restaurant, where they ate together.

Alhaitham and Kaveh decided that Kaveh would remain a catgirl rather than risk losing his memories, and Alhaitham confessed that he would protect him. Nahida then asked Theresa, Himeko, and Stellaron Essence to search for Lumine and Paimon, who had gone missing in the Desert.

• Alhaitham and Kaveh visited Theresa, Himeko, and Stellaron Essence near the Sanctuary of Surasthana and asked whether Kaveh could be changed back.
• Theresa explained that changing Kaveh back would mean risking his memories and turning him into someone unfamiliar.
• Alhaitham told Kaveh he would protect him, and Kaveh chose to stay as he was while insisting he was still attracted to women.
• Nahida summoned the group to the Sanctuary of Surasthana and asked them to find Lumine and Paimon, who had not returned from the Desert after a week.

Theresa and her companions agreed to help Nahida find Lumine, Paimon, and the others and save Apep, whose death could devastate Sumeru. After asking Nahida to gather Sumeru’s Primogems, Theresa assembled a party and led them toward the desert.

• Nahida explained that Apep had rejected her before and asked Theresa and her companions to find the missing Traveler and help save the Dendro Dragon King.
• Buer warned that Apep’s death could unleash enough Dendro to overwhelm Sumeru with enormous plants and threaten its people.
• Theresa agreed to help and asked Nahida and Buer to gather Sumeru’s Primogems.
• Theresa invited the group’s companions through the Akasha Terminal, while several declined and Phainon discussed his visit to Nod-Krai with Cyrene.
• Theresa and the others reached Sumeru City’s gates, where Xolotl and his sister joined them before the group set off for the desert.

Nahida and her companions traveled through a portal to meet the dying Dendro Dragon King Apep and offered to save her and rescue the Traveler. Xolotl revealed himself as the Dragon King, leaving Nahida and Apep stunned.

• Theresa opened a portal that brought Nahida and the others directly to Apep in the desert.
• Nahida urged Apep to accept help, while Stellaron Essence warned that Apep's death could unleash a catastrophic surge of Dendro.
• Nahida explained that the group intended to give Apep a new life and rescue the Traveler and the others from the oasis inside her body.
• Apep said she no longer trusted humans because Forbidden Knowledge had led to her corruption and near-death.
• Xolotl protected Nahida from Apep's breath, revealed his dragon form, and declared himself the Dragon King; Kukulkan also revealed her dragon features.

Xolotl and the Stellaron Hunters confronted the corrupted Dendro Dragon King, who rejected their claims and attacked them. After Xolotl defeated her and Theresa revived and purified her, the Dendro Dragon King released Lumine and Paimon and agreed to cooperate.

• Xolotl explained that the Traveler and Stellaron Hunters had revived him and Kukulkan, but the Dendro Dragon King refused to believe him and attacked.
• Xolotl stopped the Dendro Dragon King's claw with one hand, then split her charged Dendro blast and set her ablaze with the Sun Greatsword.
• Theresa extinguished the flames, revived the Dendro Dragon King, and purified the Forbidden Knowledge, Abyss corruption, and her dependents.
• The Dendro Dragon King accepted that the Stellaron Hunters were stronger and released Lumine and Paimon from her oasis world.
• Paimon reunited tearfully with Theresa and the others, while Himeko comforted Lumine over her defeat.

After the Dendro Dragon King, Apep, was healed, she transformed the desert into rainforest and grassland with Theresa’s help. Apep agreed to travel with the Stellaron Hunters and swallowed Theresa’s divine blood to take human form.

• The familiars inside Apep emerged and thanked Lumine and her companions, while Xolotl and Kukulkan defended their new female bodies.
• Theresa invited Apep to leave the desert, and Apep declared that she would restore it to rainforest.
• Theresa gave Apep a Flower of Abundance and used Light of Abundance to bring water from beneath the sand.
• After a day of work, Apep transformed the desert into fertile rainforest and grassland, then agreed to travel with the group.
• Apep released her familiars into the new world and swallowed Theresa’s divine blood to begin transforming into human form.

Apep emerged from her transformation in human form, empowered by Yaoshi’s glance and the Path of Abundance. Theresa warned her that Nibelung was gone and that seeking revenge on the Four Shadows could endanger Teyvat, leaving Apep to reconsider her plans.

• Theresa, Himeko, Lumine, Paimon, and the Four Shadows guessed what Apep would look like after her transformation while the Four Shadows worried about the revived dragons and Nibelung’s possible return.
• Apep dreamed of the Heavenly Principles and the Four Shadows defeating the Dragon Sovereigns, then broke out of her cocoon as a green-haired girl with dragon horns.
• Yaoshi glanced at Apep, and Apep gained a powerful form of the Path of Abundance that surpassed her former Dendro authority.
• Theresa told Apep that Nibelung was gone and warned her not to seek revenge or risk blowing up Teyvat, and Apep reluctantly reconsidered.

Apep abandoned her plans for revenge against the Heavenly Principles' Four Shades and decided to travel with the Dragon King and the Stellaron Hunters. After Himeko shared footage of their adventures in the Astral Express group chat, the members joked and chatted while Xolotl tried to coax Apep into drinking Himeko's coffee.

• Theresa and Himeko persuaded Apep not to fight the Four Shades, and Apep agreed to leave them alone unless they interfered with her life.
• Apep decided to travel around the human-ruled world with the Dragon King and the others, and Nahida offered Sumeru's support.
• Apep worried that the desert people would be unsettled by the transformed rainforest, while Sethos and others headed to Sumeru City to ask what had happened.
• The Stellaron Hunters returned to Sumeru City, where Himeko shared her recorded footage in the Astral Express group chat.
• The group members watched the footage and joked about the Dragon-Transformation Technique, Apep, and their counterparts in Amphoreus.
• Theresa watched as Xolotl tried to coax Apep into drinking Himeko's coffee.

Apep was forced to drink Himeko’s coffee and collapsed, while Theresa later discovered King Deshret’s three retainers had awakened inside the Aaru Device. Tut, the King of Sheep, and the King of Crocodiles emerged into the transformed rainforest and wondered if it had grown over their graves.

• Xolotl drank Himeko’s coffee to prove it was safe, then suffered uncontrollable burping and bodily reactions.
• Xolotl forced Apep to drink the coffee, and she collapsed and twitched on the ground.
• The Desert folk arrived in Sumeru City, where Sethos negotiated with the Akademiya about their acceptance into Sumeru.
• Theresa sensed three presences inside the largest pyramid and found King Deshret’s retainers awakening in the Aaru Device.
• Tut, the King of Sheep, and the King of Crocodiles possessed animals and saw that the former desert had become a lush rainforest.
• Tut asked whether the greenery around the pyramid counted as grass growing on their graves, and the King of Sheep agreed.

Theresa and Himeko agreed to help Nahida and Buer find a place for the desert refugees, then transformed Gandharva Ville into a new desert-style town. The chapter left them surveying their creation, which Himeko named Silly City and decorated with an extravagant Dr. Ratio statue featuring Theresa’s cat ears.

• Theresa decided against reviving Nibelung because he would likely attack Celestia and threaten Teyvat.
• Theresa and Himeko proposed exploring the Aaru Device, and Nahida and Buer asked them to build a new town for the many desert refugees arriving in Sumeru City.
• Theresa and Himeko chose Gandharva Ville as the site and used their powers to reshape its terrain while protecting the area with the Binding Barrier.
• Theresa and Himeko completed a desert-style town in half an hour, with Himeko adding a flamboyant Dr. Ratio statue modeled with Theresa’s towering cat ears.
• Himeko named the new town Silly City, leaving Theresa struggling to keep her composure over the statue and the name.